One of the last tenants at the Koloa Camp on Kauai plans to move out tonight.
John Patt said he feverishly packed Monday for the move.
Landowner Grove Farm issued eviction notices to 13 tenants — eight families in residential homes and five families on agricultural lots — in November, and tenants have been moving off the property one by one.
In an email, Grove Farm Vice President Marissa Sandblom said two tenants were to move out Monday, and the last tenant was to move out today, when an assessment of the property will be conducted.
Tenants had been given until March to vacate, but the deadline was extended.
Patt and his wife have bought a two-bedroom home in Koloa town that’s walking distance from their T-shirt business, Pohaku T’s.
But escrow won’t close until the end of the month, so the couple will have to stay elsewhere until then.
"A lot of people put a lot of effort to save Koloa Camp," reflected Patt, 66.
Grove Farm plans to build a 50-unit residential subdivision called Waihohonu which will consist of two- and three-bedroom homes with prices ranging from $260,000 to $485,000.
PATT said he had hoped the landowner’s plans involved affordable rentals.
"That’s what we need on this island," he said.
At several community meetings since November, tenants presented alternatives to the landowner, including building Waihohonu on agriculturally zoned land along Ala Kinoiki Road. Another involved local developer Peter Savio, who offered to buy the land and sell it back to the tenants.
Resolutions also were introduced in the Kauai County Council and the Legislature.
Grove Farm, however, stuck to its original plan.
State Sen. Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) said it was unfortunate Grove Farm didn’t see the opportunity in the proposed alternatives to reach a win-win situation.
The landowner gave tenants first priority to purchase homes in the development.
Koloa Camp was part of the first sugar plantation established in Hawaii by Ladd & Co. in July 1835.
The remaining rustic homes were part of Japanese Camp C.
